Bud Kaeding puts on the charge for podium finishes with Ocean Sprints Friday and Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial Saturday
By Gary Thomas
Chico, CA – May 10, 2010…Already having a strong start to the season Campbell, California's Bud Kaeding continued as one of the hottest drivers in Nor Cal sprint car racing this past weekend by carving his way through the field to score podium finishes with the Ocean Sprint Car Series on Friday and then the prestigious Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial on Saturday.
Kaeding went into Friday's Taco Bravo 360 event at the Ocean Speedway following a tough ending the previous week, in which he was finally scored 14th after getting upside down coming for the checkered flag in the main event at the Santa Maria Speedway.
Looking for redemption on Friday evening the 30-year-old opened the event by qualifying eighth fastest and then scoring a heat race win at the helm of the Sala/Matherly Racing, M&M Powder Coaters, Kaeding Performance No. 19. Starting from the outside of the fourth row in the main event he would make his way forward early and proceed to have an entertaining battle with Easton's Tommy Tarlton and father Brent Kaeding, before dispatching of both drivers to move into third.
With the race winding down traffic began to come into play and Kaeding tried to pounce on the leaders when the slower cars appeared. After clicking off the 24th lap he looked to the high-side of Justyn Cox to steal second in turn two, but at the same time Cox and a lapper made contact, which brought out the yellow flag. For the restart Kaeding sat in the runner-up spot and gave it a hard run after leader Justin Sanders, but the youngster did a great job out front and the three-time & defending USAC Silver Crown champ had to settle for second at the finish.
"It was a pretty good run in the main event to get second after starting from eighth and Justin just did a great job out front and definitely deserved this win," said Kaeding. "I have to thank Brian Matherly, Mike Sala and everyone involved with this team. We've been really good all year and have been in position to win every night we have raced this 19 car so far. The previous race didn't end how we wanted, but all we could do is move on and tonight was a good ending for us."
On Saturday Kaeding then headed for Chico's Silver Dollar Speedway to compete in the 20th annual Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial aboard his own Alviso Rock, K&N Filters, Swift Metal Finishing No. 29 Maxim. Last season he captured a big Golden State Challenge Sprint Car Series victory at the track on July 4, which also marked his first win at the famed quarter-mile in over 10-years.
The Campbell driver kicked-off the prestigious GSC sanctioned event on Saturday by cutting the 13th quickest lap in qualifying, but got over the edge in turns three and four on his second go-around, making contact with the outside wall. After being towed back to the pits the BK Motorsports team went to work on the damage sustained and got him out in time for the opening heat, where he finished second to transfer into the feature.
Going from 13th on the grid in the 40-lap main event Kaeding immediately found the high-side of the Silver Dollar bullring to his liking and began to blaze through the field, as he was one of the lone drivers running the top in turns three and four during the early to middle stages of the feature. As the race went on he continued to put on a show charging around the ragged edge of the track, with more and more drivers soon finding the same line he had been running. Kaeding would motor on and eventually cross the checkered flag in third at the conclusion to also earn the $500 hard-charger award put up by DES Inc.
"That was a lot of fun out there tonight and we have to thank Alan Handy and everyone involved for giving us a great track to race on in the feature," said Kaeding. "I also want to thank my crew for getting this car back together after I got off the track in qualifying and caught the wall. We've been doing really well lately and just hope it continues because there are some pretty big shows coming up."
Kaeding will return to the Ocean Speedway this Friday night for the fourth round of racing with the Ocean Sprint Car Series presented by Taco Bravo at the Watsonville based track. Going into the night he sits second in the Ocean Sprints standings to Tommy Tarlton by just five-markers. The following night Kaeding will be in action at the Groppetti Automotive Thunderbowl Raceway for the running of the annual Golden State Challenge Series Pombo/Sargent Classic, an event he won during back-to-back year's in 1997 & '98.
For more information on Bud Kaeding and BK Motorsports please visit http://www.budkaedingracing.com
Photo by Steve Cox of http://www.graphxdesigns.com
- Gary Thomas on May 10, 2010
- Article Date: 5/10/2010